1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable device, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for executing a mouse pointer function in a portable terminal equipped with a camera.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable terminal provides a communication function in which a user can talk over the telephone or exchange data with the other party while the user is moving, such as a cellular phone, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Personal Communication Services phone (PCS), an International Mobile Telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000) terminal, a Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) terminal, and the like.
The portable terminal is commonly used anywhere in the world by people of all ages and sexes and almost become a necessity. Today's trend is getting smaller, slimmer, and lighter, and mostly heading towards the provision of a multimedia device providing more various functions. In due course, it will change in its form in such a manner as to be adapted to various multimedia environments or an internet environment.
An input scheme in an input device of the portable terminal as described above is classified into a key button scheme, a touchpad scheme, and a scheme using a mouse. Herein, in the key button scheme, information is input by a combination of key inputs. In the touchpad scheme, information is input to a screen by using a finger or a pen pointer. The scheme using the mouse is frequently used for a personal computer or a notebook computer.
The key button scheme is a scheme traditionally used in a portable terminal for inputting necessary information by using one or more keys required for information input located in a space allocated to the portable terminal. Since a lot of key button schemes have been used by users and the users are currently accustomed to using the key button scheme in most portable terminals, the key button scheme makes it easy to input information, such as characters and numerals.
Accordingly, in the touchpad scheme, the user can easily input information simply by using the input means, such as a finger and a pen of the user, without a need for being familiar with a combination scheme which a user must be previously familiar with. The mouse scheme allows a user to input desired information by using a mouse.
However, the portable terminals equipped with the functions as described above have their respective drawbacks. First, a problem of the key input is that a particular space must be allocated to the portable terminal, and that is inconvenient for the user to be previously familiar with information inscribed on the face of each button. Also, notation methods for a button are different from one another according to each manufacturer, and thus the user must be newly familiar with information on a button when the user uses another portable terminal produced by different manufacturer.
In the touchpad scheme, since a resolution decreases in response to the user's direct input of information by using the input means, such as a finger and a pen, undesired other information may be input. Also, due to the operation of a touchpad by another object, undesired information may be input even at a moment when the user does not input information. Also, the scheme using the mouse requires a mouse pad and an even part, which causes the limitation of use space. Moreover, in editing a photograph or using a graphic user interface by using a portable terminal, each of the portable terminals equipped with the functions as described above has difficulty in using the graphic user interface, and is not enough to paint a picture or perform a painting task.